Biloxi "Gambling" Blues
Let me start out by saying that I greatly enjoyed the entire Biloxi/Gulfport, Mississippi experience! Although I do have tendancies toward doing more than just gambling any/all of my time away inside the various gaming facilities. After all, there's a lot to be said for walking the beaches, along the various pier's and smelling the fresh air wafting in from the Gulf of Mexico. The nightlife wasn't what I expected, although some of the major chain-hotels do offer Vegas-style shows, the primary focus here is truly on "gambling." There are plenty of hotels and/or motels in the area, however I would strongly recommend booking well in advance of visiting Biloxi/Gulfport. During my last visit to Biloxi/Gulfport I ended up staying in a "Motel 6" almost forty miles North of Gulfport, thanks to my lack of planning. Overall, even if you do end up staying in a motel several miles from the action (as I did), it's still worth the trip! Much to my surprise, the various gaming facilities are not centrally located in this area (the majority of casino's are not along a Vegas-style 'strip'). A car (or some type of dependable transportation) is a definite 'must' if your plans include visiting multiple casino's. The cities of Biloxi and Gulfport share a common border, making the travel time from one group of casino's to the next no more than 30 minutes. Of course shuttle-bus services are available, and proved to be quite reliable.
There are an abundance of good places to play Blackjack, although I'm particularly fond of "The Boomtown Casino" (I'll get to the details later). Tables rules tend to be favorable to the respective players, with the casino's uniformly offering options such as; dealer hits on "soft-17's," Aces can be split up to four times but only receive on card per Ace after each split. Other cards may be split an unlimited number of times, and double-downs are allowed after the split. The player may double-down on any combination of cards, at one session at The Isle of Capri-Biloxi a player double-downed on a hard 12 much to the disagreement of the other players at the table. "Surrenders" were not allowed, however penetration was decent averaging around 60%. Some of the dealers were kind of forgetful from time-to-time, ocassionally allowing an extra hand to be dealt after the cut-card.
Comps can range anywhere from free gifts, to nominal cash-back offers for length-of-play, to free meals, to reduced room rates (when rooms are available). It has been my experience that it was more likely to receive free overnight accomodation offers by mail, as opposed to requesting them at the time of visit? However, comps (for the most part) are freely given simply by requesting them from any of the Pit-Bosses. Items such as free gifts and/or cash-back offers were automatically rewarded based on the length-of-play. One of the pit-boss' revealed that qualifying points were awarded to a player on the ratio of approximately '80 to 90 points for every hour of play at the Blackjact tables.' This average is based on a consistent $5 minimum wager per-hand, of course more points are awarded for high per-hand wagers ($25 or more), it was also helpful to buy into a table with $200 or more.
During my most recent 4-day visit, I played The Boomtown Casino, Imperial Palace, Isle of Capri-Biloxi, The President, The Grand, Casino Magic, The Palace, as well as Treasure Bay. I visited the various casino's on different days of the week, as well as at different times of the day/evening/night. As is typical, time of day dictates a different group of 'personalities' as time progresses. Also, as is usual, the day of the week produces a crowd of different type player as well. This area also has a loyal following compliments of various tour/bus companies from neighboring cities (cities such as New Orleans, LA and/or Montgomery, AL). On my very first visit to Biloxi/Gulfport the regularly scheduled influx of new players presented a truly unique situation that I knew would be detrimental to my wallet if I couldn't compensate for it.
Every other hour (like clockwork) a tour bus wuld pull into a casino parking lot (I quickly found out that the "parking lot" was that of The Boomtown Casino), and dump out a load of brand new players chomping at the bit to try thier "luck" at the many games of chance offered in the area. It cannot be said enough times, Money Management is the "true key" here. Most times you could simply wait out the newcomers, they would end up broke soon enough and/or become disgusted with losing successive hands. At any rate, they would eventually leave the table and you would be able to resume your 'normal' game.
There are a good number of 'experts' that emphatically state that seat position (1st, 3rd Base and/or otherwise) have very little to no bearing on the outcome of any given hand. Many of this same group are also of the belief that the decision/play of the respective players' is completely independant of the other players (to include the dealer). These idea's have been presented in conjunction with mathematical statistics as well as exceedingly convincing bar/pie charts. My own research as well as personal observation reveals just the opposite, on more than one ocassion I've witnessed (and/or played a part in) a scenario where the Dealers' upcard is a 10-value card. A player at the table stays on a hard-16, the player to his/her left and draws a 5 (or less). This card would have given the player protecting the 16 a three-card 21. Subsequently, the dealers' hole-card is also a 10-value card (giving the dealer 20). The player protecting what appeared to be a Bust hand (hard-16) loses anyway, which is the sole reason that I can't seem to buy into that school of thought. The only reason that I referenced this little tidbit of information, is that the Gulf seems to play host to a myriad of players each from a bevy of disciplines. Most prevalent are those that subscribe to this type of "strategy."
One of the major reasons that I enjoy Blackjack so much, is the level of comraderie experienced at the table. With many of the players sharing war stories, 'big fish' tales, 'secret' strategies, various tips and even the dealers offer up invaluable information from time to time. I've been told on more than one ocassion, specifically from Alabama residents, that players from that state had been taught by a woman (of whom to this date I am still unable to obtain the lady's name) how to play Blackjack. These players are usually gone within the first thirty to forty-five minutes after thier arrival. Late nights you're apt to run into a few old-timers from The Big Easy who play more on hunches rather than any type of 'strategy?' On my last visit to The Boomtown Casino in Biloxi, I was sitting at 3rd-Base at a $5 table, after a couple of hours two seats became available and were quickly filled by an "Old School" gambler and his girlfried (who later confirmed that they were indeed from New Orleans).
Before too long the older gentleman had become visibly agitated at myself as well as the man who had managed to sneak into the chair at 1st Base. His quandry was that, !st Base and myself were clearly advantage players - and we were winning, while the old-timer himself wasn't doing too well. According to Mr. "Old-School" - "Who in thier right mind would hit a 12, when the dealer is showing a 3?" I thought fro sure that this poor fellow was going to have a coronary right there at the table when I motioned to hit my 12, while the Dealers' upcard was a 6 (I will generally hit any/all 12's, no matter what the Dealers upcard is). I managed to finish up this particular session ahead, having almost quadrupled my initial buy-in.
The Boomtown Casino
This facility offers a good number of table games as compared to the other Casino's in the area, if you're lucky enough to find an empty seat - The Boomtown even offers a $2 table! Counting the $2 table there were a total of 5 Blackjack tables available during peak periods, with two of them being $5 tables and other two offering $25 minimum games. Here the deck penetration was extremely favorable to the player with some of the dealers allowing the "thin-to-win" cut, on several ocassions I was allowed to cut the deck as small as just barely under a single deck! The dealers were more than generous, generally placing the cut-card between 65% and 75% of a six-deck shoe.
Green and Black chip action was openly welcomed at all of the tables, with the exception of the $2 table of course. After all, if you can afford to play $25 to $100 hands you really have no business at the low-end table to begin with. The Pit Boss' didn't so much as flinch when hands got to as much as $500, but did watch the game at one particular table where a stunning young lady was playing $1,000 hands. They didn't discourage the play, and I got the impression that it was more her looks that they were interested in rather than the dollar amount that she had on the table.
Imperial Palace
Although I suffered no losses nor major set-backs at The Imperial, the atmosphere there was extremely subdued as compared to the other facilities I had visited. I must also admit that aside from being able to leave this establishment a winner, there really weren't any other favorable items to point out. Don't get me wrong, the staff wasn't rude and/or beligerant - they were indifferent? As a matter of fact, at one of the tables that I played - one of the female players became quite excited and exhuberant over her good fortune. The Dealer as well as the Pit-Boss then calmly, but firmly, requested that she might temper her zeal somewhat. Now, that floored me!
I'm not one to raise a fuss when someone makes what could be considered a "dumb" play, I don't even blink twice when a player splits 10's (although I will color-up and move to another table). But I do strongly disagree when the 'house' degrades the players overall enjoyment of the game. Which is the number one reason that I've always enjoyed playing at Boomtown so much - at least there, even when you're losing you're having fun doing so!
Isle of Capri-Biloxi
I'm compelled to openly reveal that my penchant for playing the Isle of Capri (it doesn't matter which city) is purely asthetic. The tables used by this establishment are the type which are grooved in a fashion that present troughs to each player in which to stack thier chips (much like the troughs commonly located on Craps Tables). The game of Blackjack itself tends to be, more or less, typical of the area. Deck penetration averaging roughly 65%, however the dealers here are prone to rush the game (if the players aren't paying attention). On more than one ocassion various dealers would 'anticipate' my decision, by assuming that I didn't want to hit a 14 and attempting to pass the decision on to the next player (the dealer - since I typically play at 3rd Base).
Many times a dealer in this facility would arbitrarily make the decision(s) for a plyaer without receiving any type of hand signal. During one of my sessions at 'The Isle of Capri-Bilox' is was requested to refrain from 'coloring up' my chips until I was done playing and ready to leave the table. The request came from the staff as a result of them exchanging chips for me "slowed" down the game (which was my general intention).